MLB: Phillies can't hold lead late, fall to Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates' Starling Marte (6) is safe at home as Philadelphia Phillies catcher Erik Kratz, left, misses the tag in the eight inning of a baseball game on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Philadelphia. Home plate umpire Mark Carlson, center, watches the play. The Pirates won 6-4. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)

PHILADELPHIA — Two seasons ago, when the Phillies won 102 games, the only time they took a turn through the rotation and lost games started by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels was after they had clinched the National League East title.

Those three pitchers combined to go 50-23, and in their 95 combined starts that season, the Phillies were 64-31.

It was the type of domination people expected from those three, and they delivered.

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It is amazing how far away 2011 feels in April 2013.

Thursday afternoon, Cliff Lee tried to get the Phillies through seven innings holding onto the paltry lead they provided. He couldn’t, and after the Pirates scored three more runs in the eighth to secure a 6-4 win at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies (9-14) had sent Hamels, Halladay and Lee at a franchise that has gone more than two decades without a winning season, and took an oh-fer.

In the first five turns through the rotation, the Phils’ $64.5 million triumvirate is 4-6. The Phillies in those 15 starts are 4-11.

That’s almost inconceivable.

“We still have a lot of season left,” Lee said, “but I’d like to see us play better. Today we had a one-run lead, Gaby Sanchez hits a home run, then we regain the lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and then they tied it back up.

“That’s where I have to do a better job of keeping the lead.”

Charlie Manuel, after watching Antonio Bastardo and Mike Adams fetter away Halladay’s lead the night before, tried to leave the task to Lee. Despite the left-hander heading over 110 pitches, Manuel decided with two on and two outs to allow Lee to face Sanchez and Mike McKenry.

Two broken-bat singles later, a 3-1 lead had been obliterated.

“I felt like I made some decent pitches to Alvarez … then McKenry, I had him 0-2 and felt I made the perfect pitch, and another broken-bat hit,” Lee said. “There’s not a lot I can do about that. I have to do a better job of getting myself in situations where they are a hit or two away from getting back in the game. I’m not happy about walking (Starling Marte (with one out in the seventh).

“I think mistakes are magnified at this level, period. You can’t give any team at this level extra outs or free bases. If you do that, usually you win. If you give them extra outs and bases, usually you lose. We have to do a better job of playing a complete game, there’s no way around it.”

The Phillies had more struggles in the field and on the bases. Kevin Frandsen, getting his first start of the season at third for Michael Young, airmailed a throw in the fourth inning that made Lee have to throw pitches he shouldn’t have needed. And in the fifth inning, Lee have the team a boost when he legged out a one-out infield single, but let it go to waste when his attempt to take advantage of not being held on at first backfired. Lee took off for second before Pirates starter James McDonald started to the plate, and the lanky right-hander had the wherewithal to step off and nab Lee.

“I basically had it,” Lee said, “but I got antsy and took off too early. I have to wait until he goes to the plate.”

The crowd actually cheered Lee, as if just thinking about doing the right thing is good enough these days. The Phillies apparently are getting Participation Awards.

“I don’t care if they cheer when I do something bad,” Lee said. “That doesn’t affect me one way or another. I was just frustrated with giving them a free out.

“We have to play a better game, there’s no way around it. Every aspect of the game we have to play better. There are always things that you have to do better. They are just magnified when you’re losing.”

The Phillies did get two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead, as Ryan Howard followed a leadoff walk by Frandsen and single by Utley by scorching an RBI single to right. Dom Brown provided another run with a hard liner to center that sufficed as a sacrifice fly.

Lee couldn’t make that stand, and when Phillippe Aumont had to be used while Mike Adams and Antonio Bastardo rested following shaky outings in their third appearances in four nights Wednesday, things got ugly.

Aumont hit weak-hitting Clint Barmes with a pitch with one out, and after a pair of rollers eked through the hole on the left side of the infield to load the bases, Garrett Jones doubled to put the Pirates (13-9) up for good.

The Phillies seem flummoxed about how to stop the bleeding at this point. Carlos Ruiz returns from his suspension Sunday, and Lee seemed to indicate that the All-Star catcher has as good a shot of righting the ship as anyone.

“He obviously was our best player last year,” Lee said, “so getting him back can only help. His bat, his game-calling, his leadership behind the plate is something that definitely can help us, no doubt.”

No doubt? When Lee, Hamels and Halladay leave you empty-handed against the worst franchise of the last 20 years, there are doubts. Oh, yes there are.